1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shoulder mountable article carrying device. More particularly, it relates to a shoulder mountable article carrying device balanced on a single shoulder of a person for carrying packages or other objects and articles of substantially equal weight without requiring the use of human hand intervention to stabilize the articles, and which can be interchanged for use on either shoulder of the person.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices which can be balanced on the shoulders of a person are well known in the prior art. One such device is known as a yoke and is balanced upon the two shoulder blades of a person around the back of their neck. The yoke has two elongated portions extending out from a middle portion for resting upon the shoulders of the person. The yoke is constructed such that evenly weighted opposed ends extend outward from the neck area of the person creating an evenly balanced device. Accordingly, the weight of the yoke is set such that it's center of gravity is positioned at a middle portion where the device wraps around the back of the person's neck. This enables the person to carry substantially equal weighted loads on the opposed ends of the yoke while maintaining balance and not requiring the use of their hands to keep the device balanced and stabilized on their neck. However, the outwardly extending opposed ends creates a substantially wide profile and causes the person utilizing such a device to interfere with his surroundings to his left and right sides.
Other forms of yokes are known in the prior art and are used for exercise purposes. Such devices can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,820,781 (the '781 patent) and Pat. No. 5,312,314 (the '314 patent). Both devices have elongated wing portions for resting upon the shoulder blades of the person. The '314 patent is not made to carrying packages, yet is configured to add weight on both ends such that a person can increase strength as they use the device.
Carrying yokes are known and can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 399,180 and 966,562. Both of these devices have extended wing portions that rest upon the shoulder blades of the person with opposed ends that permit weighted objects to be carried thereupon. Another type of carrying device can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,787. This device has a backwardly extending portion, a shoulder resting portion and a downwardly extending front portion with a hand grip. Packages or other weighted objects are positioned upon the backwardly extending portion while the hand of the user grips the downwardly extending front portion to properly balance the device. The device rests upon a single shoulder. If the user does not grip the front portion, the device will not balance properly.
None of the carrying devices seen in the prior have outwardly extending portions that permit the device to rest upon a single shoulder and balance thereupon without the use of external forces such as the hand of the user. There is a need for shoulder mounted carrying device for use upon a single shoulder that balances thereupon without the need to rest around the neck of the user. Further, the carrying device should extend out and back from the shoulder perpendicular to the body of the user and not require any external force to balance the device upon the shoulder of the user (i.e., human hands). By extending front to back instead of side to side, as in the prior art, a user would be able to eliminate the interference caused by these known side to side devices.